Amblin acquires “Dan and Sam” graphic novel for film

PanARMENIAN.Net - Amblin Entertainment has acquired the rights to Dan and Sam, a graphic novel by Mark Watson and Oliver Harud, The Hollywood Reporter reveals.

Ana Nogueira, the Vampire Diaries actress who is also a playwright, is attached to pen the screenplay.

Doug Wick and Lucy Fisher will produce via their Red Wagon Entertainment banner in partnership with Lex Lutzus’s House of Heath.

Said to evoke love stories such as Ghost and City of Angels, Dan and Sam is a supernatural romance about a young couple who have it all, until the woman, Sam, dies unexpectedly. Dan, however, discovers that love transcends the physical world when Sam is allowed to visit him one night a year…But there’s a catch: it’s only until he falls in love again.

Tear-tinged love stories have long been a staple of films and the genre scored again this year with Me Before You, MGM’s surprise hit that starred Emilia Clarke as a woman who takes care of a partially paralyzed man (Sam Claflin) who wants to end his life. The movie made $207.5 million worldwide on a budget of only $20 million.

Charlie Morrison will executive produce Dan and Sam and oversee for Red Wagon with Lucas Wiesendanger. Nick Matthew will oversee for House of Heath.

Red Wagon has been producing the Divergent movie series and also produced Baz Lurhmann’s The Great Gatsby.

Nogueira tackled relationships in her play Empathitrax, which debuted to strong reviews earlier this fall.